Sunday, February 17, 2008

Band Name: Jeff Hahn Love Child

Seriously. He's my scalable hero. I wish he was my dad.

Corn Alternative Weeds

No freaking clue how this will be done, but we need to do it. Some kind of growing medium that needs very little water, no pesticides, can be grown in the barren desert, and could be used as a rotation crop. Cannabis/hemp still needs water, but it's a possibility.
It has to grow like a weed. It can't be a genetically modified plant (unless you consider breeding modification). We can't live on corn alone. Switchgrass sounds nice, I guess.

Of course, a totally synthetic version of "corn" would be nice, something that could be made in a petri dish medium on a grand scale. It's starting to sound sci-fi, but that's because I am no longer a professional biologist.

Vegetable Cling-Wrap

cellulosic recombinations, ahoy! If they can make a corn-based "plastic" cup, they can make thinner and stickier plastic for use as cling-wrap. While I don't like the reliance on corn-based-everything, I think we can start there. Algae? Anyone?

Creativity Class in High School

SSIA. Art is a nice class, but art springs from a heart of creativity. We all have it, but it gets systematically purged from us if we follow the scan-tron world of mainstream education. Although there are pockets of schools that foster creativity, I think most schools would do well to bring creativity in stages. One crucial step could be bringing to the fore the using one's mind, heart and hands to discover the creative pulse that we all share.

Ideas are nice (as I attempt to show), but there's a lot of creative juice stored away in other places, and it needs recognition and fostering. Perhaps a semester class that has units the way science class does. Field trips, guest speakers, and final projects (ungraded?) to showcase the creative spirit. It needs a interdisciplinary push, a way to uncover the creative in multiple fields of study. Plus, it would be "fun". We all need more of that in school, for heaven's sake.

Repurposed Road Sign Canvas for Refugee Tents

At the moment, there are people re-using the spent billboard signs that are made of canvas instead of the old-school paint/wallpaper style billboards. They use it to make recycled messenger bags and chic purses. I like that, but I like this better: Keep the canvas in one big piece and send it to refugee camps with simple instructions for making it into a tent. It's waterproof, flexible, colorful, and recycled. The refugee crisis we currently see is nothing compared to the possible surge in the future due to natural disasters and a possible outbreak of mid-east warfare. Gimme (Give them) Shelter!

Neighborhood Native Art with geographical accuracy

People lament the fact that we don't have enough art in our lives, and yet it's all around us. It would be very cool if we could locate historically accurate artistic expressions and get some grants to do a small neighborhood art studio that specializes in that local artwork/craft. Bonus points if the native tribe of that area could help with the art.

Iphone Reader Scrolling

Although I do like the way I can flick the screen down while I read, I would like a feature of the phone to auto-scroll the text so I can read it without having to manipulate the screen every few seconds.